‘the last straw’

In Winter 1993 a publication entered the built environment , etching its name as a hallowed journal for straw as a construction material – The Last Straw.

Emanating from USA the first issue had a national/regional take on straw construction: structural testing in Tucson; construction of an eight sided strawbale house; the Genesis farm in New Jersey; training with school children, and venturing further north in Canada for fire testing.

It came as no surprise that as the world woke up to the benefits of working with this material The Last Straw went further afield and brought together the incremental parts of natural construction: other types of natural building materials, building codes/regulations, finance (insurance and mortgages). The more recent issues also took on an international perspective with news from across the globe too (issue #4 features modular systems at ‘The Great Straw Conference’ in Cirencester in England, 1993).

Our members were evangelical about The Last Straw, not just as a networking hub, but for its notable sources of information. Sadly the last edition was published in Spring 2017.

Imagine then, our joy in late 2021, as The Last Straw resurfaced on Instagram to announce that it was returning!

For those of you that do not possess these collectors’ items, worry not – click here for the newsletter and the archive of their journal. Welcome back, The Last Straw!